Society

Shanxi province to hike minimum pay by 15.5%

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-03-29 16:11

TAIYUAN - North China's coal-rich province of Shanxi announced Tuesday it will raise the minimum pay of workers starting April amid rising consumer prices and labor shortages.

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The minimum monthly salaries, now at 850 yuan ($130), 780 yuan, 710 yuan and 640 yuan in different regions, will be raised by about 15.5 percent, the provincial bureau of human resources and social security said in a statement.

Shanxi raised the minimum pay by as much as 18 percent a year ago and is now the latest to join a dozen other regions in announcing further wage hikes this year.

Severe labor shortages, sporadic strikes and rising living costs prompted a round of wage hikes nationwide last year and a new round this year.

China's consumer price index, a major gauge of inflation, rose 4.9 percent in February from one year earlier as food prices surged 11 percent.